Additional Resources

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Grant Wood Area Education Agency offers opportunities for professional learning to enhance of professional skills and practices to improve student learning. these include a variety of courses for credit, workshops that offer the latest evidence based professional learning for educators, parents and community partners, and paraeducator and substitute authorization training programs.

We partner with Drake University and Morningside College to offer graduate credit for courses offered through Grant Wood AEA and as a link to their endorsement programs offered as collaborative partners with our AEA.

Additionally, we serve as a point of contact for information regarding professional educators' license renewal and mandatory training.

The Professional Learning for the Iowa Teacher Leadership and Compensation System (TLC) is using the attached framework to help participants identify the various focus areas and outcomes for professional learning. TLC System – Framework for Learning Supports The icons representing the various focus areas will be included on Grant Wood AEA Professional Development flyers.

Grant Wood AEA offers many opportunities for paraeducator professional development including courses leading to the Paraeducator Certification and the renewal of that certification as well as workshops designed to develop specific skills. The Grant Wood Paraeducator Certification program is approved by the Iowa Department of Education.

Grant Wood AEA offers a substitute Authorization training program that is approved by the Board of Educational Examiners. Completion of this program and a background check allows substitute teaching under specific parameters. Additional information including registration for current classes (if available) can be found under this link.

Courses for credit and workshops are offered continuously throughout the school year and summer to offer educators, parents and community partners an opportunity to participate in high quality professional learning activities designed to improve student learning through the enhancement of instructional practices. This listing is updated regularly and may be search by date or topic.

The preferred registration procedure for courses and workshops at Grant Wood AEA is an electronic registration. From your registration account, you can register for classes, view your class information and review your transcript. The User Sign-On link takes you to this registration. If you need to use a hard copy registration please follow the registration policy link.

AEA wide and onsite courses and workshops are set up for registration and credit-attendance purposes thorugh Grant Wood AEA Professional Development. the required forms and policies to provide courses for license renewal credit, graduate credit and workshops for contact hour documentation are on the following link. Courses must be submitted at least six weeks prior to the start date and for publication in the all agency newsletter, must be submitted prior to the Linker submission dates.

Grant Wood AEA provides license renewal credit for study groups. The study group concept provides a way for educators to work in cooperative groups to study identified issues and goals, to research professional literature, and to address instructional strategies related to student achievement. Procedures to submit a study group proposal are listed on this link. Study groups must be submitted three weeks prior to the start date.

Grant Wood AEA is a collaborative partner for graduate credit for courses with both Drake University and Morningside College. Please see Credit Policies for specific information. Additionally, masters and endorsement programs are offered through Drake University and Morningside College. Please see the Graduate Credit link for additional information.